This invention is concerned with glassware forming machines of the individual section type and with apparatus incorporating such a machine for use in the manufacture of glassware articles.
A glassware forming machine of the individual section type comprises a plurality of independent glass manufacturing units, called "sections", each of which operates to manufacture gobs of molten glass into articles of glassware. Each section has a parison-moulding station at which gobs of molten glass received by the section are moulded into parisons and a further moulding station at which the parsons moulded at the parison-moulding station are formed into completed articles of glassware. The sections of a conventional glassware forming machine of the individual section type are arranged to receive gobs in turn and to operate with phase differences between the sections so that at any given moment each section is at a different stage of its operation. A gob distributor distributes gobs to the sections in turn in a predetermined sequence and a conveyor carries away the completed articles from all the sections. The sections are mounted side by side on a linear bed and the conveyor extends parallel to the bed along the row of sections. Thus, conventional apparatus for use in the manufacture of glassware articles comprises a feeder arranged to produce gobs of molten glass from a stream of molten glass supplied thereto through a forehearth leading out of a furnace in which the glass is melted. The gobs fall from one or more orifices of the feeder, the feeder having one orifice when the sections are to operate on one gob at a time (the so-called "single gob" mode) and two orifices when the sections are to operate on two gobs simultaneously (the so-called "double gob" mode). It is also possible to have three or four orifices. Gobs falling from the orifices fall into the gob distributor which is arranged to distribute the gobs falling from the feeder to the sections of a glassware forming machine of the individual section type of the apparatus. The gob distributor is positioned above the centre of the row of sections and is arranged to deliver successive gobs from a particular feeder orifice to the sections of the machine in a predetermined sequence. Thus, the gobs are formed into articles of glassware by the sections which comprise mechanisms operable to form one or more gobs at a time into articles of glassware.
In a conventional apparatus as described above, the gob distributor is arranged to deliver the gobs to a series of guides which lead to blank moulds, or parisonmoulding moulds, of the sections of the machine so that a gob is guided into the mould. Because these sections are arranged in a row, the length of these guides is unequal, the guides to sections in the middle of the row and hence closer to the gob distributor being considerably shorter than those to sections at the ends of the row of sections. The inequality in the lengths of the guides increases with the number of sections so that the variation of lengths is greater for a ten section machine, for example, than it is for a six section machine. Because of the unequal lengths of the guides, gobs take unequal times to reach their respective sections which means that the gobs do not all arrive in their sections at exactly the same temperature. This has an adverse effect on the forming operation of the machine since the machine operates with all the sections operating identically so that variations in gob temperature show up as variations in the quality of the articles of glassware produced. Furthermore, the unequal lengths of guides cause the glass works to need to stock a considerable quantity of different types of spare guides to enable worn guides to be replaced when necessary.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus of the type described in which the length of the guides from the gob distributor to each section is equal and a machine which is suitable for use in such an apparatus.